


Missing Poster

by littleblackneko



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Christmas, Gen, Kid!Castiel, Kid!Fic, Kid!Gabriel, Orphans, References to Abuse, Weechesters, kid!Dean, kid!Sam
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-24
Updated: 2014-12-24
Packaged: 2018-03-03 08:31:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,694
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2844650
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/littleblackneko/pseuds/littleblackneko
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's Christmas Eve and ten year old Gabriel and his little brother Castiel are living on the streets after running away from a bad foster home. When Gabe goes to steal a Christmas present for Cas, he's met with an unsuspected surprise.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Missing Poster

It should have been a given that it would be cold on the twenty fourth of December, but Gabriel couldn't have imagined that it would get this drastic. Icy slush coated the streets, and a heavy layer of mist lay upon the air. There was little breaking of the utter darkness aside from a few passing headlights on the street in front of them, and bless his little soul, his brother was pretending like the weather didn't bother him. Castiel was all curled up in a muddy brown trench coat that the wind whipped at relentlessly as it surged down the alleyway, but the boy stared at Gabriel with a light still glistening in his eyes. Well, it was almost Christmas...  
"It's about time you get to sleep, kiddo," Gabriel muttered, ruffling Cas's hair.  
"Because we gotta be asleep for Santa to come, right? That's what Mommy and Daddy said." The little boy's eyes widened, shooting Gabe with a deep, sparkling blue. Gabe felt himself deflate a bit inside. "Santa's gonna be able to find us here, right?"  
He didn't have the heart to tell him that 'Santa' didn't usually come to homeless orphans. He couldn’t do that to him, couldn't break the magic. Cas was only five years old for goodness sake. "Yeah, yeah he'll find us, Santa knows where all the good little kids are. So, if anything, he'll find you." So that settled it. He was going to have to find a way to get Cas a Christmas present. He would have to. It was his job to look out for the kid.  
"You're good too, Gabey!" Cas chuckled and Gabriel had to fight the memories that tried to swell up. It wasn't Castiel's fault. He didn't know the last situation where Gabriel had been a 'good boy' and Gabe didn't intend for him to know, well, ever.  
"But you're the best, Cassy!" He forced a smile, "Now, what do you want Santa Claus to bring you?"  
"Can he bring our parents back? Or give us a house?"  
Well...fuck.  
Fuck his life.  
"I think that may be a little out of his price range, kid. That's more towards the big guy upstairs."  
"Oh...okay. Well then I just want us to have a good day tomorrow."  
Gabe gave him a smile that hopefully pretended to reach his eyes. "Get to sleep, Cassy." Seriously, sometimes Gabe swore he could see a halo floating over that kid's head. Damn, he had to get Cas something for Christmas. He couldn't let that flicker of hope, of magic, die in his brother's eyes.  
~~~~~~~~~~  
Gabe didn't approve of stealing. Not in the slightest. But in this case, he decided, it was justified. He just needed to get something small for his little brother. After making sure Cas's sleeping form was hidden from sight of any passerby, he snuck off to a corner store just a little ways down the street. He didn't account, however, for how terrifying it would be to be around people. The store wasn't even all that crowded, just a small collection of people doing some last minute shopping, but it still felt like everyone was out to get him, that any of them had the power to be someone who could hurt him. He felt pinpricks dancing on his skin, his breath heaving at an uncontrollable rate. He dragged a hand through his matted blonde hair, feeling like he would faint at any moment. It only got worse when he saw the missing children posters.  
Gabriel felt a strange sensation staring back at himself, looking at the grinning image with a sickness growing in his stomach. They were searching for the two of them. He and Cas weren't safe. They well and truly weren't. The police would be scavenging every corner and those people would give Gabe that look so that if he said anything at all he was as good as dead and so they would send he and Cas back to live in that house and he couldn't go back there he couldn't he couldn't he couldn't he coul-  
"You need anything, boy?" a gruff caused Gabe to jump eight feet in the air. A tall man with a beard and a trucker hat looked down at him curiously and oh god he was going to put two and two together and-  
"N-nothing, sir. Nothing. J-j-j-just here to get a Christmas present for my little brother. Sorry to bother you sir." He knew. He must know. The resemblance between him and the happy kid in the picture existed enough to make a correlation. Gabriel bolted out of the store.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
"Kid, kid get back on over here, whatcha doin'!" He heard the voice of the man but not his footsteps, so he pivoted when he thought he was a safe distance away.  
"No!" Gabriel hollered, trying to sound confident, "I know what you're gonna do! We won't go back!"  
"Kid, what're you on about?"  
"Don't act like you don't recognize me! I'm hanging in your store. Gabriel Novak. And you want to call the police and take my brother and I back to that horrible place!" In his fearful proclamation, Gabe didn't notice quite when the man, who according to his label was the owner of the store, had his face fall in realization.  
"Shit. Gabriel...that really you?"  
"Yeah," Gabe mumbled, "What about it? I already told you we're not going back there."  
"Gabriel," the man started walking closer, "Gabriel, just talk to me alright. I ain't callin' anyone yet."  
"They're going to lie to you," Gabriel felt himself lose control of the words coming out of his mouth, they were just shooting right out from the panic that was raging a storm inside his head. "They'll lie. They'll say they love and care and they'll tell you they never did anything to us, but it'll be a lie. They hurt me. They hurt me. They hurt me." Gabriel had said those words in his head, felt their pressure and their haunting day in and day out, but he had never uttered them aloud, especially not to anybody. That knowledge had been his own secret to bear, for he never was going to put himself first.  
"Damn." he heard the man say, "Kid, what did they do to you?" That's when he saw the hand coming at him. It probably was nothing. Just a comforting touch or something of the like. But immediately there came the thoughts of the touches that hadn't been friendly or welcome or kind. Touch had become a curse.  
So he screamed. Raw, burning screaming. And before he could think about how it looked, he was in a fetal position on the ground. "Don't touch me!" he found himself shrieking, "Please, sir, please don't touch me." Warm liquid spilled from his eyes and there he was, shaking on the cement.  
"Gabriel, I won't hurt you. I promise, kid. And I ain't gonna be calling anybody to send you back there, y'hear? Now how bout you and your brother come join my kids and me and get outta this bitter cold."  
"How-how do I know I can trust you. What if it's all just some ploy and you're working for our foster parents. Huh? Why should I trust you?" Gabriel knew that playing tough would get him nowhere since this man had seen him break down sobbing. But it was a valid point. How could he know this store guy wasn't secretly a serial killer? It was cold though, and Cas was a stick and some heating would be nice. Not to mention, he'd run away before with Cas. He could do it again. Depending on the answer, they could go with the guy and then disappear again if the need arose.  
"Listen, I know I'm stranger and all, but I mean it when I say I would never hurt you boys. I got adopted boys of my own and their daddy didn't treat them too good either. So I never want to see another kid getting hurt." The man gave him an open, honest look and held his hand out to Gabriel, "I'm Bobby Singer."  
"I-I think we will sir. Just let me go get Cassy and I'll come right back."  
"Alright, son, you go on. I'll wait right here. And enough with the 'sir', it ain't necessary."  
Shaky and heaving, Gabriel nodded and started walking back to the alleyway that had been his home for the past two months. Protect Cas. That was what he had to focus on. This would protect Cas.  
~~~~~~~~~~  
He had a moment's hesitation as he scooped Castiel up in to his arms, of whether or not to go back out and go with that man. He could always hide, leave the man wondering. But what if he was one of the good guys? It would be nice to spend Christmas indoors.  
So he allowed Cas to curl up against his shoulder and nuzzle back into sleep, and he walked back out to where Bobby was waiting for them. The man smiled softly at him, and Gabriel could sense his pity radiating off of him. But if it was worth it....  
"Quite a sweet little kid you've got there."  
"Yeah," Gabriel mumbled, burying his face gently into Cas's soft little foofs of black hair. "He's my little angel."  
They walked in silence down the sidewalk until reaching a strip of small midget houses. They walked three down and Gabriel froze outside the door to Bobby's house, and he was again felt his eyes tearing up without his permission. "You shouldn't be so nice to me..."  
"And why not, boy?"  
"I was gonna steal from your store." He mumbled, looking at the ground where he was scuffing his shoes against the cement.  
"Anything you were gonna be doing, I understand."  
"No, but, it wasn't even something we needed. I just wanted him to have a present for Christmas. He's not going to now."  
"Don't worry, Gabriel, I'll take care of that." Something in the way Bobby said those words made Gabriel feel like everything would be alright.  
The door swung open.

**Author's Note:**

> Part Two coming soon!


End file.
